Mexican novelist, essayist Carlos Fuentes diesMEXICO CITY (AP) — Author Carlos Fuentes, who played a dominant role in Latin America’s novel-writing boom by delving into the failed ideals of the Mexican revolution, died Tuesday in a Mexico City hospital. He was 83. Fuentes died at the Angeles del Pedregal hospital where he was taken after his personal doctor, Arturo Ballesteros, found him in shock in his Mexico City home. Ballesteros told reporters outside the hospital that the writer had ...

Spaniards rage against austerity, grim economyMADRID (AP) — Spaniards angered by increasingly grim economic prospects and unemployment hitting one out of every four citizens protested in droves Saturday in the nation’s largest cities, marking the one-year anniversary of a spontaneous movement that inspired similar anti-authority demonstrations across the planet. The country’s Interior Ministry said 72,000 people marched against the government’s tough austerity measures in Madrid, Barcelon...

Greek president in last-ditch coalition effortATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s president will meet with political party leaders Sunday in a last-ditch effort to broker a deal for a coalition government and avoid another general election. Karolos Papoulias took the step Saturday after socialist leader Evangelos Venizelos officially gave up the mandate to form a coalition government after three rounds of negotiations proved fruitless Papoulias’ office announced that the president would meet i...

In Egypt turmoil, thieves hunt pharaonic treasuresCAIRO (AP) — Taking advantage of Egypt’s political upheaval, thieves have gone on a treasure hunt with a spree of illegal digging, preying on the country’s ancient pharaonic heritage. Illegal digs near ancient temples and in isolated desert sites have swelled a staggering 100-fold over the past 16 months since a popular uprising toppled Hosni Mubarak’s 29-year regime and security fell apart in many areas as police simply stopped doing their jo...

Yemen: US drone strikes kill 11 al-Qaida militantsSANAA, Yemen (AP) — Two suspected U.S. drone strikes killed 11 al-Qaida militants in southern Yemen on Saturday, Yemeni military officials said. The first attack took place near the border of Marib and Shabwa provinces southeast of the capital, Sanaa, killing six militants, including one Egyptian national, the officials said. The second strike hit two cars in Marib, killing five al-Qaida-linked fighters. Over the past year, parts of Marib, Sha...

Israel envoy meets with Palestinian presidentJERUSALEM (AP) — An Israeli envoy met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday and delivered a letter from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayahu detailing his government’s stance on stalled peace negotiations. Yitzhak Molcho held talks with Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinians’ government. The modest exchange was the highest-level communication between the Palestinians and Israelis in months. Netanyahu...

Vatican eyes Legion priests on abuseVATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican is investigating seven priests from the troubled Legion of Christ religious order for alleged sexual abuse of minors — evidence the scandal over the order’s pedophile founder doesn’t rest solely with him, The Associated Press has learned. Two other Legion priests are being investigated by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for alleged sacramental violations, believed to involve abusing spir...

Gold! Haiti hopes ore find will spur mining boomTROU DU NORD, Haiti (AP) — Its capital is blighted with earthquake rubble. Its countryside is shorn of trees, chopped down for fuel. And yet, Haiti’s land may hold the key to relieving centuries of poverty, disaster and disease: There is gold hidden in its hills — and silver and copper, too. A flurry of exploratory drilling in the past year has found precious metals worth potentially $20 billion deep below the tropical ridges in the country’s ...

Suicide attacks in Syria add wild card elementDAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — The latest suicide bombings in the Syrian capital showed an increasing ruthlessness: The attackers struck during rush hour, setting off one blast to draw a crowd before unleashing a much bigger one, killing 55 people and leaving the street strewn with rubble and mangled bodies. For many, the al-Qaida-style tactics recall those once familiar in the country’s eastern neighbor, Iraq, raising fears that Syria’s conflict is d...

Greek euro exit no longer unthinkableFRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Let Greece go: It’s a possibility that’s being considered more and more publicly in Europe. There have been two and a half years of bailouts, on top of broken promises by Greece to reform. The result: a fifth year of recession and, this week, political chaos. Voters on Sunday favored parties that either oppose the terms of the country’s international bailout or want to renegotiate them. If it cannot get more rescue lo...

Twin car bombs in Syrian capital kill dozensDAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Twin suicide car bombs exploded outside a military intelligence building and killed 55 people Thursday, tossing mangled bodies in the street in the deadliest attack against a regime target since the Syrian uprising began 14 months ago. The bombings fueled fears of a rising Islamic militant element among the forces seeking to oust President Bashar Assad and dealt a further blow to international efforts to end the bloodshe...

International adoptions drop amid fraud crackdownsHANOI, Vietnam (AP) — The number of international adoptions has fallen to its lowest point in 15 years, a steep decline attributed largely to crackdowns against baby-selling, a sputtering world economy and efforts by countries to place more children with domestic families. Globally, the number of orphans being adopted by foreign parents dropped from a high of 45,000 in 2004 to an estimated 25,000 last year, according to annual statistics compi...

Russian jet crash puts Indonesian sales in limboMOUNT SALAK, Indonesia (AP) — The crash of a new, Russian-made jetliner into a jagged Indonesian volcano during a flight to impress potential buyers has thrown doubt on dozens of plane sales just as Moscow seeks a comeback in foreign markets. All 45 people aboard were feared dead. Search and rescue teams climbed through the mist-shrouded, jungly terrain for nearly 20 hours to reach the site where the plane roared in at nearly 480 mph (800 kph)...

Blast near UN car shows fragility of Syria truceDARAA, Syria (AP) — A roadside bomb hit a Syrian military truck Wednesday just seconds after the head of the U.N. observer team drove by in a convoy, demonstrating the fragility of the international plan to end the country’s bloodshed. In Washington, meanwhile, President Barack Obama took steps to extend sanctions against the government of President Bashar Assad, saying Syria poses an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to U.S. national securit...

Europe at the crossroads: splinter or uniteBRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union, a hope for peace that rose from the fires of World War II, paused Wednesday to honor its past and ponder its future — and how it can ensure it still has one in light of the anti-austerity anger expressed this week by voters in France and Greece. May 9 is Europe Day, a commemoration of a key event that led to the creation of the modern EU. It was on this day in 1950 that French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman...

French first ladies: Bye Carla, bonjour ValeriePARIS (AP) — Only in France. Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, the superstar model-turned-songstress with a freewheeling lifestyle, now hands the job of first lady to a twice-divorced journalist who’s the first presidential partner to enter the Elysee Palace without a ring on her finger. And as Valerie Trierweiler prepares for her new role alongside President-elect Francois Hollande, in the wings is the woman whose man she stole — Segolene Royal, the mothe...

Puerto Rico aims to become fully bilingual by 2022SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The governor of Puerto Rico is trying to do what more than a century of American citizenship has failed to accomplish: teach Puerto Ricans to speak English as well as they do Spanish. Gov. Luis Fortuno, who has been mentioned as a possible Republican vice-presidential candidate, has proposed an ambitious, and what critics call far-fetched, plan to require all public schools to teach all courses in English while sti...

Netanyahu emerges as strongman with unity dealJERUSALEM (AP) — Now backed by a parliamentary supermajority, Benjamin Netanyahu has tremendous room to maneuver on Israel’s most pressing issues: peace with the Palestinians, possible war with Iran, and the growing rift at home between religious and secular Jews. The stunning partnership with the opposition Kadima party, announced overnight Tuesday just as the nation was expecting him to call early elections, means the premier — if he so desi...

UN envoy warns of civil war in SyriaDAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — International envoy Kofi Annan gave a bleak assessment of the crisis in Syria on Tuesday, saying violence remains at “unacceptable levels” and warning that his peace plan is the country’s last chance to avert a disastrous civil war. Annan insisted there is still hope and said the presence of U.N. observers has had a calming effect on the crisis, which has killed at least 9,000 people since March 2011. “There is a profoun...

9/11 defendants ignore judge at Guantanamo hearingGUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) — They knelt in prayer, ignored the judge and wouldn’t listen to Arabic translations as they confronted nearly 3,000 counts of murder. The self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks and four co-defendants defiantly disrupted an arraignment that ended late Saturday night in the opening act of the long-stalled effort to prosecute them in a military court. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the admitted architect...